BY MICHAEL DAVID
The Wood River Wolverines won both games against the Canyon Ridge Riverhawks at Founders Field Saturday afternoon.
The 7-1 and 12-2 victories completed the three-game sweep of their Great Basin foes, and vaulted the Wolverines into sole possession of second place in the conference. Wood River completed the regular season with a record of 10-5 in the conference and 17-7 overall.
Despite one of the most successful campaigns in many years, this senior laden team feels they have much more work to do this season.
Wood River will begin the post-season at home next Saturday, and they have their sights focused on a trip to the State tournament.
They first had to tend to the work at hand this Saturday against Canyon Ridge.
Nic Tidwell toed the rubber for the Wolverines in the first game of the doubleheader and dominated the Riverhawk batters throughout the contest. The senior limited Canyon Ridge to a single unearned run in the fifth inning, striking out 6 batters and allowing only 4 hits.
Riverhawk starting pitcher Andreus Burton matched Tidwell in the first 3 innings, shutting out the Wolverines until their bats awoke.
Six straight Wolverines reached base in the fourth inning, and the biggest blow was a bases-loaded triple by Alec Nordseick, driving home Dylan Broman, Owen Gifford and Cade Schott. Broman had singled home Ike Buxton earlier, and Reide Whitehead capped the scoring by driving in Nordseick from third base following his triple.
Wood River added on two runs in the sixth inning, provided by a Gunner Gibson RBI double and an RBI single by their senior first basemen Adrian Rojas.
The seven runs were more than enough support for Tidwell and the Wolverines to take the first game 7-1.
Game 2 would prove to be more of the same for Wood River—strong offense and strong pitching. Senior Designated Hitter Reide Whitehead drove home Broman and Nordseick in the home half of the first inning with a double to left center, and Whitehead and Tidwell scored later in the inning to give the home team a 4-0 lead.
Nordseick was the starting pitcher in the second game, and he delighted the Wolverine fans in his last regular season start of his high school career. He flirted with a no-hitter, as the Riverhawks were not able to record their first hit until the fifth inning. While Nordseick was shutting out the visitors, recording 6 strikeouts in the process, the Wolverine bats continued to stay red hot.
Reide Whitehead tripled home Broman and Nordseick in the third, Gibson knocked in Whitehead, and Rojas, Schott and Buxton scored runs to put Wood River up 10-0 after three innings.
The young Canyon Ridge squad fought to the end, scoring 2 runs in the top of the fifth inning to temporarily avoid losing the second game by the 10-run rule. It turned out to be very temporary, as Alec Nordseick tripled in the bottom of the fifth to catapult the Wolverines to two more runs to seal the 12-2 victory for Wood River.
It was Senior Day at Founders Field, and the nine seniors and their families were recognized for their enormous contribution to the Wood River High School baseball program over the last four years. Broman, Nordseick, Whitehead, Gibson, Tidwell, Rojas, Nelson Cantrell, Lange Felger and Mikey Levy gathered on the third base line with their families following game 1.
It was an emotional moment for these student athletes who have been playing ball together for several years. As Captain Adrian Rojas said, “We will remember these times for the rest of our lives.We are like brothers…”
But, even as they recalled all the good times from the past, they were looking forward to the Conference tournament starting next Saturday and the potential bid to the State Tournament.